‘Mr. Manke’s actions are not a display of harmless civil disobedience. His actions are counterproductive to the collective effort …’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Michiganders formed a militia this week to prevent state police from arresting a 77-year-old Owosso barber who reopened his shop in defiance of the state’s shelter-in-place order.
Karl Manke opened his barbershop last week and received a packed lobby of customers his first morning, according to Fox-66.
He was immediately slapped with two citations, but dozens of customers returned to his shop every day, often waiting hours outside for a haircut.
On Friday, Michigan state police issued Manke a health protection order and a cease-and-desist letter from state Attorney General Dana Nessel demanding that he close his shop. Nessel also threatened to take Manke to court if he refused to shut down.
“Mr. Manke’s actions are not a display of harmless civil disobedience,” Nessel’s order states. “His actions are counterproductive to the collective effort businesses and communities everywhere have made to slow the spread of COVID-19, and by opening the doors to his business, he’s putting the lives of many more Michiganders at risk.”
Still, Manke refused.
In response, the state asked a Shiawassee County judge to sign a temporary restraining order against Manke. But Judge Matthew Stewart rejected Nessel’s request in order to “provide Mr. Manke with an opportunity for a hearing,” according to a spokesman for Nessel’s office.
Michiganders rallied behind Manke and guarded the door to his shop to make sure that law enforcement could not take further action, Fox-66 reported.
“Yesterday six troopers came in to enforce the governor’s order or to issue a cease-or-desist order, so we are here to make sure he doesn’t get arrested,” Daniel Brewer, one of the members of the local militia, told the station.
“We’re willing to stand in front of that door and block the entrance so the police will have no entry there today,” Brewer said.
Manke said that he isn’t “trying to be a scofflaw.”
“I’m just trying to make a living,” he said. “I tried for the unemployment. I was denied twice on unemployment. I haven’t seen anything in one these other checks from the government.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer “is not my mother,” he told the Detroit Free Press. “And I just made an adult decision that I was gonna open up.”
